Here we are again, another election year is upon us. With each election year, I find myself with an increasingly skewed perspective on campaigns simply because of my design background. I now judge the posters, signs, bumper stickers, etc. solely based on typography and layout.
Politics aren’t really my thing. I don’t get into heated debates about it, I don’t go picket-lining, I don’t put stickers on my car, or post signs in my yard. I have only watched Meet the Press on accident. So yeah, you get the point. But I do believe in good design.
Gotham we can believe in
Four years ago the font, Gotham, was splashed everywhere. Which led me to even start my own campaign motto; “Gotham, we can believe in” (instead of the “Change, we can believe in).
The typeface, Gotham was designed by New York based Hoefler & Frere-Jones, in 2000, with the purpose of creating GQ a signature typeface for their magazine.
Gotham is based off of the handmade urban landscape signage from within cities such at New York City, which seemed to have been replaced by the “arrival of sign making in the 1960s”, according to Hoefler & Frere-Jones’ Gotham History brief on their website.
The 2012 Obama campaign has hired the pair to create a custom Gotham for just this year – with slab serifs. Please see this link: http://www.typography.com/ask/showBlog.php?blogID=261
I have been a big fan(atic) of Hoefler & Frere-Jones’ work for many years now, and this certainly pulls on my design aesthetic heart-strings again this year.
Hope
There is also the famous Shepherd Fairey ones, with HOPE.
This is one of the most overly designed campaigns in Presidential Election History. Sure, they are all overly-designed, but Obama’s 2008 campaign kicked off a whole new trend of design in the political world. The designers did their jobs and successfully pulled at the heart-strings of many younger voters through the use edgy designs and trendy typography. The fact that Obama leans more on the Liberal side of progress and politics, are reflected by the more urban-based designs.
Being in design school at the time of Obama’s 2008 election, I can certainly say it pulled at my design heart-strings some, what with the designs being so iconic.
Trajan, the statesman font
Shifting gears a little bit – let’s take a look at Conservative side of design and politics: the Mitt Romney campaign.
Trajan is the typographic choice for the Romney/Ryan campaign. Trajan was designed by Adobe in 1989, it is commonly seen used in many movie titles. So much so, that there was even a design-nerd viral video about it from 2007 - http://typographica.org/on-typography/trajan-the-fallback-font-for-lazy-movie-marketers/
Trajan is a serif typeface based on the inscriptions used in Rome, in particular the inscription at the base of Trajan’s column. Because of its “statesman” qualities, it is the font of choice for several universities and political websites.
It has also been used multiple times for multiple campaigns, including Chris Dodd from Connecticut, during his bid to run in 2008.
Interestingly enough, some Obama campaign items from 2008, also included Trajan. Another reused and recycled element of Romney’s campaign this year is the tagline, “Believe in America.” That sounds nice and strong. Fun fact: back in 2004 when John Kerry was running for president, he used the same tagline for his campaign.
Minty-fresh branding
Did you first read Presidential hopeful, Mitt Romney's logo as "Omney?" Doesn't it strike you as a bit odd for a campaign logo? Doesn’t it also remind you somewhat of clean teeth? You know, the Aquafresh logo.
Sure, it is vertical instead of horizontal but I suppose Presidential candidates need shiny white teeth too, right? Not sure if this will help or hurt his campaign, but it does make me wonder.
What do you think? Can design make or break a campaign?
Happy Voting!
What others are saying
allgood2
I oddly enough, liked the Romney/Ryan design, even though I totally read it as Omney/Ryan and wondered momentarily what state they were running in. Despite its overuse, I think Trajan is a nice font. But mostly, I think I just like the use of white as the background. It makes the card look clean and crisp, and yes minty fresh as well. I also admit to liking the triple R red, white, and blue— it could stand for Republican’s Romney and Ryan. I wouldn’t vote for them, but give their design 2 thumbs up.
I almost thought there was a law against, changing the color (or at least depth) of the blue used in political campaigns. I get so tired of the same three colors, with minimal distinguishing shades. But I, again, like the definitely lighter blue in the Romney campaign. In fact, I think I just used that color of blue on a website I worked on. Their’s maybe a little lighter, mine was #124E89.
I still like the Obama flag, rising sun logo, icon, emblem. I’d just prefer it on a white background. Also could we get some small caps in use if every name has to be in all caps. Some variation in height would be nice.
I doubt if design will break a campaign, but it may add a little extra zeal to one, if you already support them. I’d be far more likely to hand-out stickers, if I thought they looked awesome and supported my candidate.